The thoroughly researched
booklet explains that Maometto II
was originally written in 1820 for
Naples. This was a city then noted for
its progressive operatic tastes which
permitted the composer to make some
fairly bold experiments, setting aside
the traditional closed forms linked
by recitatives in favour of something
more continuous. For Venice, two years
later, various revisions of a more traditionalist
nature (all listed in the note), as
well as the provision of a happy ending
and a few rabble-rousing crescendos,
were required. This version of the opera,
as recorded here for the first time,
still shows an impressive shape and
continuity, the set pieces frequently
being made to appear parts of a larger
whole by the insertion of choral interludes
and the like. Later still the material
was reworked as "Le siège
de Corinthe", in which form it
is perhaps better known. Whatever the
pros and cons of the various versions,
the opera we hear on these discs is
a very fine one, musically rich and
with a clear dramatic shape. The fact
that the principal role is for a bass
and that there is no soprano gives it
a sombre colour all of its own.

Naxos have sometimes
been accused of assembling rag-bags
of provincial singers whose only virtue
lies in their low fees but they have
struck lucky here. Not so much with
the tenor, though even he is not bad
as modern tenors go. The voice is an
attractive one and as a "tenore
di grazia" in less strenuous works
I am sure he could be very effective.
Here he is obliged to strain at times.

In Anna-Rita Gemmabella
we seem to have a real star, a powerful
voice with smouldering chest tones and
all the agility needed to bring off
her great scene in the second act. I
fully endorse the shouts of "Brava!
Brava!" which break out at the
end. She is described in the credits
as a contralto but as a mezzo-soprano
in the brief biography in the booklet.
She could take a leaf out of Rebecca
de Pont Davies’s book and call herself
a "mezzo-contralto" for the
richness of timbre and the power of
the lower register suggest a contralto,
but she is able to go somewhat higher
than would normally be expected of such
a voice.

Certainly, she is readily
distinguishable from Luisa Islam-Ali-Zade,
a mezzo-soprano of a quite different
type, nearer to a pure soprano and able,
in fact, to sing high soprano roles
as well as mezzo ones. She does not
have quite the technical security or
the authority of Gemmabella but, apart
from a strained top C at the end of
Act One she acquits herself well.

Denis Sedov is an Israeli
of Russian extraction and American training;
he has the typical rich Slavonic bass
timbre and sufficient agility to bring
off his big aria with aplomb. He easily
dominates the proceedings when he is
on stage. The smaller parts are decently
taken and there is good work from the
chorus and orchestra under a conductor
who shows a good sense of pace and instrumental
colour. The recording is good.

As well as the documentation
referred to above, the booklet gives
a detailed synopsis (as is customary
with Naxos) but no libretto. This, however,
can be accessed (in Italian only) on
the Naxos site at an address which is
provided. So all things considered a
notable opera enters the catalogue in
a version worthy of the occasion.

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